With over 100 years of impressive work making their watches water-resistant, Rolex ultimately failed to prevent their website from springing some leaks this year as their 2025 novelties were subject to a handful of light-fingered hackers. However, like with all things unconfirmed Rolex, you have to take what you see online about the watchmaker with a pinch of salt, and so we can finally take a look at this year’s novelties confident in the knowledge that what we are looking at is the real deal, straight from the source itself.
The Land-Dweller
Rolex Novelties 2025: Rolex Land-Dweller (Images: Rolex)
Easily subject to the most discourse out of all the leaked novelties, the Land-Dweller has proven to be the watch that collectors seemed to fixate on this year, and for good reason. This is the first entirely new collection from Rolex since the Perpetual 1908, which some people just see as a renamed Cellini collection. The Land-Dweller, however, is an entirely new collection with a new design language and movement.
Offered in stainless steel, 18kt Everose gold, and platinum in 36mm and 41mm with either a white dial on the rose gold and steel, or ice-blue on the platinum, all with a honeycomb texture motif, the Land-Dweller’s biggest draw is its new bracelet design.
Not only does it include a hidden clasp, which Rolex phased out of their Jubilee bracelet in recent years, but it also features a flattened design that differentiates it from the ordinary Jubilee bracelet. Most importantly, though, it also features an integrated system akin to those we have seen become increasingly popular over the last few years, as in watches like the Royal Oak, the Nautilus, the Overseas, and so on. Perhaps inspired by the Rolex Oysterquartz’s design from 1977, or perhaps inspired by the market’s yearning for a new aesthetic from the Genevan giants, the Land-Dweller has certainly made an impression.
Beyond its construction, the Land-Dweller also features one other important detail, a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback that reveals its automatic cal. 7135 movement. Of course, this comes as no surprise given that the cal. 7135 is an entirely new type of movement for Rolex to debut, with a natural escapement (named the Dynapulse escapement) instead of the traditional Swiss lever escapement. Naturally, this begs the question as to why Rolex would create a new escapement system. Well, the natural escapement removes the need for lubrication thanks to its two symmetrical wheels that reduce wear and friction in the system. Difficult to produce, it seems Rolex has cracked the code in industrializing this escapement. Offered with 66 hours of power reserve, the Land-Dweller is a slight deviation from the typical 70 hours that we have come to expect from Rolex’s new models, but that is explained away by its upgraded 5Hz beat rate – a 25% increase on the typical 4Hz that their other watches beat at.
Oyster Perpetual Dial Revamp
Rolex Novelties 2025: Rolex Oyster Perpetual (Images: Rolex)
Another big surprise for this year has come in the form of new dials for the Oyster Perpetual collection. While this new family of watches was released in 2020, the dial colors proved to be rather short-lived, with several of them being discontinued in 2023. Now, two years later, Rolex has decided to release a light pastel green called “Pistachio” and a champagne gold color called “Beige.” In addition to those colors that are offered across the entire range, 28mm to 36mm also include a pastel purple color called “Lavender.” Beyond its additions, the Oyster Perpetual also bids farewell to the Celebration dial, which was a turquoise background with a series of colored bubbles.
1908 Perpetual Bracelet
With their cache of bracelets being truly iconic, when Rolex creates a new bracelet you pay attention. It has been 10 years since Rolex debuted the Oysterflex, and since then they haven’t exactly been bracelet pioneers. And so finally, this year, they have introduced a new bracelet for the 1908, the “Settimo.” Made using a brick-style design whereby the link’s five central pieces of the seven are the same size, with the outer two tapering along the bracelet’s length, this new “Settimo” bracelet is intensely elegant and a worthy addition to the brand’s bracelet line-up, and to the 1908 collection as a whole.
GMT-Master II Upgrades
While simple dial color changes might be the norm for Rolex, the GMT-Master II collection sees a serious step up in terms of the dials it has to offer this year. In addition to bringing out a new 18kt white gold version of the left-handed GMT-Master II “Sprite,” Rolex has given that new model a green cerachrom dial – a first for the brand. Made to match the green on the green and black ceramic bezel that surrounds it, this may point to a slight shift in how Rolex will produce dials in the future. With a strong, bright shade of green, I can say that I certainly hope this becomes the norm for Rolex.
In addition to releasing a new ceramic dial, the GMT-Master II collection is also being used to release a new stone dial called “Tiger Iron.” Composed of tiger’s eye, red jasper, and silvery hematite, this dial uses a stone “that pulses with golden and orangey tints,” as Rolex puts it, and to be fair to them, it does – I really like it.
Other Introductions
Finally, we will wrap up with the other immediately obvious changes, such as the handful of new Daytona dials, with the return of the green “John Mayer” dial, but with a twist in the form of its gold subdials, and the introduction of a turquoise blue dial for the cerachrom bezel Oysterflex bracelet version in 18kt yellow gold. The Lady Datejust has seen the introduction of a stunning diamond-set red ombré dial.
Conclusions
While the dust from these novelties is yet to settle, it appears that Rolex has silenced the naysayers who insist that they do nothing year on year. On the contrary, this has been one of Rolex’s most impressive years. Sure, they may have still refused to release a GMT-Master II “Coke,” but they have given us a completely new model, an incredibly impressive new escapement, a new bracelet design, and even a new type of stone dial alongside some interesting new colors to choose from across some much-loved collections such as the Oyster Perpetual and Lady Datejust. So, all in all, I would say that Rolex has delivered just about everything you could ask of them this year, at least within reason given that we know just how slow they are to move on trends and fashion as a whole.
